Count Goluchowski on May 19th made a speech to the
Delegations which illustrates the peculiar position of the Austrian Empire. The real anxiety of the delegates was to know what was happening within the Balkan Peninsula, Was Albania so disturbed that Italy might interfere ? Was Bulgaria gradually falling completely under Russian influ- ence? What was Turkey about with its increase of Customs- duties ? Count Goluchowski reassured everybody. The Porte had given way about the duties. The riots in Albania had been absurdly exaggerated and might have occurred any- where ; and as to Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Exchequer had applied for a Russian Chancellor of the Exchequer, but it was only to put accounts straight, and they had sent officers to St. Petersburg for instruction; but, then, they sent them to Vienna and Paris too. One fancies the Count invented his explanations, but he added the very definite statement that the great Governments interested had all agreed that no change should be made in the status quo in the Balkans without the consent of all.
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